Monitoring, Evaluation, for Women's Economic Empowerment Programmes

This document captures the lessons learned and best practices in Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) in women's economic empowerment programs, based on the experience of the Second Chance Education (SCE) Program, implemented by UN Women in Chile.

SCE is a global initiative by UN Women, carried out in six countries: India, Mexico, Cameroon, Jordan, Australia, and Chile. It provides a comprehensive solution for women who, for various reasons, have been unable to complete their formal education and find themselves in vulnerable situations in terms of employment and job opportunities.

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning is a key tool for ensuring that the implementation of a pilot program is carried out with quality and that the initially set objectives are achieved. In the case of the program, monitoring, evaluation, and learning were fundamental, allowing the systematization of the information generated during the execution of the pilot phase to incorporate improvements throughout the program’s life cycle and to capture the lessons learned after its implementation. This document theoretically reviews the concepts, tools, and components of MEL; presents the MEL strategy for the program in Chile, which complements the global actions taken to follow up on the program; and finally summarizes the main challenges encountered in the program's MEL, as well as the lessons learned from this process.